Passionate About Life | Photography

Friday, June 02, 2006

+ Gadgets | PC Show

PC Show 2006 June 1-4
Time sure flies faster than I can grasp the speed its cruising at.

Trying to catch up most of the time, it seems.

Only aware when it hit me in the face with another quarterly PC show that started yesterday. Simply called PC Show 2006, help at the same place - Suntec Convention Centre.

All spirits high as today is Friday and last day of the work week. The opportunity to get to see and maybe buy some good bargains and bundles "techno toys."

Let's see, my shopping list...
  • 1GB Memory Stick Duo for my S700i Sony Erricson Cell phone.
  • Subscribe to a monthly PC Magazine.
  • A wireless Print Server for my CX4100 Epson Stylus MFP.
  • An extra Battery for my Lumiz FZ10 Panasonic Digital Camera.

Maybe take a look at Nokia N-Series cell phones especially N93 - the one that catches my attention and stopping me from getting a Sony Erricson W900i.

PC Show 2006 Friday Crowd
Promptly after work, 3 of my best friends went to the PC Show. Each a shopping list in mind.

The place was packed with bargain hunters. And sure enough lots of bargains and bundles thrown in with purchases, since it is also the Great Singapore Sale.

I bought a DiVoom PC Sound System for on S$29.00, proudly designed and made in locally. Great for my son since his Sub-woofer is already going bonkers. A definitely good buy, considering the sound quality is good with such a low price.

Nokia N93 Series Camera PhoneThe Nokia booth was one of the star attraction, with its latest irresistible N-Series cell phones... and not forgetting the beautiful girls modelling the phones too.

3 things I look for in an all-in-one cell phone:
  • Easy phone features preferably with Quad Band and WiFi ready to roam around the world seamlessly when I am on business trips or vacations,
  • High Resolution Camera with a good lens for everyday photo taking. I love taking photos so the images should be reasonable enough, conveniently in my pocket. Short video taking s a bonus, though not used often.
  • MP3 Music Player with tons of my favourite songs to entertain me on my journey alone in the bus, MRT and anywhere.
We tried our luck to win a free Nokia phone. One will have to go through and experience the 3 sections of its exhibition arena, the phone is big on - Image Capture, MP3 Player and of course its Communication Features itself.

Sony Erricson W900i Camera PhoneWe got our picture taken using the upcoming N93 phone with the Lady model holding an N91. Great features!... I mean the phone.

Nonetheless, I will have to on-hold my intention to buy a Sony Erricson W900i until Nokia's N93 is launched end July 2006.

By that time, Sony have newer models too that are comparable to N93.

I finally signed-up for PC Magazine Singapore with a 2-year subscription costing $117.00. Included this time in the bundle are Wacom PenPartner, an EMTec 800 DPI Optical Mouse, TravelPAC Combination Lock, 2 pieces of EMTec CD-R and 1 piece DVD-R, and past 5 months past issues starting August 2005 onwards to March 2008.

Went to accessories booths to look for Memory Stick Duo card for my K700i cell phone which currently has only 32MB capacity.

Though the specification limits it at 128MB, I tried 1GB MS Pro Duo anyway to see if it was compatible, but unfortunately not... Memory Error it prompted when I inserted to test.

There was not any 128MB MS Duo to be found anywhere. With such a great phone, it already has become obsolete so fast.

Next booth, Print Server. Another disappointment. It is only suitable for a printer, not MFP as it will render the scanner and fax functions useless, as it cannot communicate with the target PC.

Like technology, blazing faster than we can blink our eyes, so was the time when it was announced that it was closing time. Sigh...

DiVoom PC Sound System Model Morro-321 Onward to the next quarter! How time flies when you are having fun... spending money.

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Monday, May 15, 2006

+ Pix12 | The Padang

Since I have nothing much to blog about tonight, I decided to post this sets of photos I took when we went for a family outing after looking for a prospective little shop we wish to call our own.

These photos were taken back in February, 25th 2006.

We went to take a look at the shop that was advertised for rental, but found it not suitable for the type of business we deal with, even though the asking price was very reasonable.

After we our dinner at Sakura Family Restaurant in Peninsula Plaza, we headed to the Esplanade.

Before that, we had to pass through The Padang - Singapore's premier open field best known for Cricket and Rugby by the Singapore Cricket Club founded in 1852 by the British in colonial times, but a venue well known locally for holding our National Day Parade and celebrations.

Funan | The IT Mall
From Peninsula Plaza, you can see Swissotel Stamford Singapore on the left and Singapore's new Supreme Court with its UFO disc - I am not sure what they were thinking, while The Padang right in front.

Swissotel Stamford Singapore, formerly known as Westin Stamford is South-East Asia's tallest hotel - not sure if China had overtaken this title with their stacks of concrete slabs.

At the top is a restaurant where panoramic views of the whole premier area of Singapore's business and shopping district can be seen. Great view for National Day fireworks!

To the right is Shanton Way, Singapore's business and financial district. Call out whatever world famous bank you want, most likely there is an HQ there.

Enough talk, photos below. Not great shots because the day was setting. I took the photos about 6:30pm with little light left, but not sure how to work the camera for such lighting.


The Adelphi & New Supreme Court


The Padang | Business & Commercial District Background


The Padang | Marina South Background


The Padang | Old Parliament Building


The Padang | Singapore Cricket Club


Swissotel Stamford | Tallest Hotel in SE-Asia

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Friday, April 21, 2006

+ Pix11 | Friday Flare

Ang Mo Kio Central | Banquet Food Court
Like many, Friday is the best day when my senses are all excited and spirits high. It is end of the working week and weekend will greet me tomorrow.

Like every Friday, I will go for my mass Prayer at Al-Muttaqin Mosque at Ang Mo Kio Central. A delightful surprise awaited me after prayers today.

I stumbled upon a newly opened Banquet Food Court while on my way to buy some hardware stuff for Wify's shop in AMK Central.

Since I had not taken my lunch, I could not resist but bought myself a bowl of my favourite Tom Yam Seafood with Fried Fish Noodle! Never done that before though, after Friday prayers, I usually went straight back to the office. I just cannot not resist Tom Yam everywhere I go.

After work went straight to Wify's shop to surprise her with dinner and stayed there till she closed the shop. A very nice beginning to a weekend.


Ang Mo Kio Central | Neighbourhood Shops


Bugis Village | Street Shopping Ground Floor


Bugis Village | Back Alley Yellow Stairs Pre-War House


Bugis Village | Colourful Stairs of Pre-War Houses


Bugis Village | Traffic Junction

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Saturday, April 15, 2006

+ Pix10 | Bugis Junction

Bugis Village Traffic Junction
Since we set-up shop at Bugis Village on 4th April 2006, I have been prowling around the area looking for set-up stuff for the shop that became in short supply, like cable-ties and metal brackets.

So strategicly located, Bugis Village is directly infront of the infamous Parco - Bugis Junction Shopping Mall. To the left of it is Bugis MRT where Raffles Hospital is located - my favourite TomYam with Fried Fish Noodle is waiting for me.

Further down Vistoria Street is the Queen Street Wholesale Market. A little further down, is the Sultan Mosque, the main, amongst numerous ones scattered throughout Singapore.

This entry is the scenes I saw and snapped, while shopping with my wife for the set-up of our shop.

Bugis Village | Parco Shopping Mall In Front of Bugis Junction

Bugis Village | Bugis Street Shopping Entrance

Bugis Village | Japanese Tourists On Trishaws Along Victoria Street

Bugis Village | Raffles Hospital Foof Court

Bugis Village | Sultan Mosque along Jalan Sultan

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Friday, March 24, 2006

+ Pix09 | Ride Home

Bus Stop at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5  Sun SettingEveryday I go to work by cab and come back from work by bus. Service number 72, that is.

It takes about 30 to 40 minutes journey to reach home. A double decker bus is my favourite, especially the newer ones with the laid back seats with spacious leg-room.

I would normally get a seat since the frequency of buses for this route is between 5 to 10 minutes wait during peak hours.

This entry is my everyday journey home in pictures from the top deck of the bus using my trusted Sony Erricson's S700i cell phone. No nice scenery, just blocks and blocks of flats as compared to Ellen from Coffee Granules which is where I got the idea from.

More pictures with the next updates of the scenes as I go through my journey home.


Bus Stop at Ang Mo Kio  Overhead Bridge

Bus 72 Double-Decker  Top Deck View

Bus 72 Route  Yio Chu Kang & Hougang Junction

Bus 72 Hougang  Hougang Estate

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Saturday, March 11, 2006

+ Gadgets | Epson MFP

Suntec City Exhibition Hall
Like Arnold said before "I'll be back." I was back again at the IT Show 2006 at Suntec City this afternoon.

Funny thing happened though. I guess I took a stupid pill today.

Singapore ExpoI led my wife and son to Singapore Expo at Changi instead on the intended Suntec City.

Probably because it has always been there for IT shows and my mind went to "auto-assume" mode or something.

We took lunch at the food court and was going to the exhibition hall when I realised it. My mind failed me this morning.

Anyway, there was a heavy crowd there for the Book Fair, Modern Living Fair and Mother and Child Fair.

Singapore Expo MRT StationAnyway, took the MRT from Singapore Expo to City Hall and walked through the City Link underground to Sunctec City.

The crowd was incredibly heavy that the bridge linking Marina Square to Suntec City came to a crawl.

Expectantly because it is a Saturday and mainly because it is the start of a one-week school holiday here.

We had to take a detour and walked farther through Marina Square Shopping Mall to reach the exhibition hall. All 3 stories of it - 3rd, 4th and 6th floors.

Narrowed down to Canon, Brother and Epson with the price range difference of about S$100.00. Wanted a network-ready AIO or Epson call it MFP - MultiFuntion Printer.

Suntec City IT Show 2006  XBox 360 LaunchCould not decide which until the Epson has the edge of the DURABrite Ultra INKdividual Cartridges that does not smear and water-proof even on plain paper. Guaranteed printed pictures to last 130 years on. Good if it really is.

The print resolution is 57.6K, higher than normal 48K tops. That makes the printouts crisp-clear and true-to life colour with its finer pixels.

Epson Stylus CX4100 MultiFunction PrinterNow wifey did not think that network-ready was altogether necessary. The most important function that she will be using often are the scanning and printing.

The exceptional photo printing capability is a significant bonus for us.

So we set on Epson Stylus CX4100 MPF for S$168.00 that with a free trolley to lug it back home.

A set of ink cartridges included - individually, colour ink costs S$11.10 each while black is at S$12.40 to replace. Much cheaper than our former Lexmark X83 which costs about S$74.00 for colour and S$59.00 for black.

Sunctec City IT Show 2006  Lucky Draw CountersSet-up was easy. No need to refer to the manual at all. Windows XP did most of the thinking. The CD installer did the rest.

I tested the photo-print and yes, it turned-out brilliant!

Scanning was a tat slow, but the resolution and outcome superb! Very happy with the result so far and glad we chose this printer.

We thank God, The Almighty blessing us with such luxury.

Now, let us play with our new toy!

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Friday, March 10, 2006

+ Gadgets | DVD Rewriter

Suntec City Exhibition Hall  Aerial View
Skipped lunch today and with 3 other friends, we went to IT Show 2006 at Suntec City to get some good bargains for a long awaited electronic gadget.

Got myself an LG Internal 16X Super Multi DVD/CD Rewriter model GSA-H10A for S$79.00 with an LG 25-piece DVD -R DVD Recordable Dics as a free gift. Not a bad bargain at all.

Will be busy this weekend to fix-up the internal drive to beef-up my PC to play and record DVD Dics as well. With this I will be able to store tons and tons of photos on the DVDs for posterity.

You can never be too careful, storing your precious memories in hard disks where virus and hackers loom every minute to corrupt and destroy your years in a split millisecond.

This time the IT show is larger and spilt into two stories in the exhibition hall.

IT Show 2006  Suntec Exhibition Hall 4th Floor AccessoriesSo many great bargains that you tend to loose your control spending on those great gadgets. So dirt cheap this time around!

We shamelessly overshot our lunch time and came back to the office quite late in the afternoon. All 4 of us felt guilty for it.

We under-estimated the taxi queue that was although fast moving, but too long a queue.

The road was quite congested with visitors to the show. Pity the road marshals, as they frantically controlled the heavy traffic in the middle of the afternoon sun. It was boiling hot this afternoon.

Saturday and Sunday crowd will be even heavier. My family will be some of the people there as we are looking for a replacement of our AIO - All-In-One Lexmark x83 Printer which had timely broke down and deemed not worth repaired as recommended by the service centre.

Lexmark X83 Multifunction PrinterWe are looking for an AIO and are split between a Brother, Canon or an Epson Printer/Scanner.

Will have to read-up on the features, but economical ink usage and network-ready of the printer are a definite wish to have because it will be networked and shared between the 3 PCs that are wirelessly connected in our home - Mine in the Study/Gym room, Wifey's in her SOHO and Son's in his room.

Going back again tomorrow for the best AIO Printer with good bargain.

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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

+ Pix08 | Sentosa One

Sentosa Island Pink DolphinsIt has been quite a while since I stepped into Sentosa Island Resort, a resort island south of Singapore.

Since we could not resist the view from HarbourFront, we ended-up spending the time there at Palawan Beach, beside the Pink Dolphins Lagoon.

An islet south of Sentosa is considered the southern-most part of Asia Continent, as it is connected via a suspension bridge to Sentosa. Sentosa Island itself to mainland Singapore and eventually by a Causeway bridge to Johor, Malaysia.

Cool sights, wonderful weather and the water was emerald-green. Just perfect for swimming and sun-tanning, but we were unprepared for that. Sigh...

Just enjoy the view with my Wife and Son, my Mom and Dad. Heaven! The photos tell all. Wish I could post all of them though, but here is Part 1 first.

Sentosa Palawan Beach Overlooking Southern Islet

Sentosa Palawan-Islet Suspension Brigde Family Photo

Sentosa Danish in Southern-most Island of Asia Continent

Sentosa Suspension Bridge Emerald-Green Waters

Sentosa Palawan Beach Towards Pink Dolphin Lagoon

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Tuesday, February 28, 2006

+ Pix07 | My Sony

Sony Erricson LogoSome of the photos I took using my cell-phone camera instead of the my Panasonic FZ10 Digital Camera.

Sony Erricson S700i Camera PhoneSurprisingly my Sony Erricson S700i Cell-Phone of only 1.3 Mega Pixel capability, but with such wonderful results as far as I am concern.

So far I am very please with the outdoors picture for daylight. The colour and contrast are perfect for me.

It however becomes grainy in low light, especially night shots, but still good shots for brightly lit city skylines. Like any camera, the phone can produce nice night shots when placed on a stable top.

This cell-phone has been my trusted companion whenever I get to see something picture worthy for my own personal collection. So convenient for me and never regretted forking out a rather large sum of money to own it.

A good phone and a bonus performance camera too.

Below are the different places I took using just my cell-phone at different conditions.

Sunny Day | Singapore River

Overcast | OUB Centre Battery Road

Rainy Day | IKEA Alexandra Road

Indoors | Puffy In Orange Peel

Evening Time | Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 Bus Stop

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